Craig Sager II

Welcome to the Class A Division I blog and get ready to see why this classification is the most intriguing classification in the GHSA’s new format. In total, there are 76 schools in the newly formed Class A Division I, but that number shrinks to 62 without the non-football schools. Additionally, the new Class A-3A Private division pulls teams from Class 3A down to Class A Division II and Class A Division I is home to a whopping 16 of the 25 total teams in Class A-3A Private. As a result, Class A Division I by default will house more top 10 teams than any other classification this season with 16 of its 62 football teams being in the Class A-3A Private pool and a remaining 46 teams that will compete for the Class A Division I title. For context, the preseason Score Atlanta rankings saw seven of its 10 ranked Class A-3A Private teams come out of Class A Division I with Savannah Christian, Fellowship Christian, Calvary Day, Wesleyan, Greater Atlanta Christian, North Cobb Christian and Aquinas. There are only eight private schools in the state that will not be playing in Class A-3A Private this season. Woodward Academy is the lone Class 5A private school and Class 4A will house the other seven with Westminster, Marist, Blessed Trinity, Benedictine, St. Pius, ELCA and Pace Academy.

There are 62 total football teams in Class A Division I playing a region schedule (Mt.

The three results out of Class A Division I this past week that were most notable were the victories by Thomasville, Athens Academy and Dublin.

Last week’s blogs covered the first week of games in Class A Division I and highlighted which of its non-public teams will be within the Class A-3A private schools classification this season. Today, this blog will go region by region and also highlight the biggest matchups to watch this week. In total, there about 50 games to watch involving Class A Division I’s 76 teams this week, including a total of five region openers for the 10-team Region 2. These region matchups will carry a greater significance when it comes to the playoff picture and Post Season Ranking ‘PSR’ Formula.

Region 2 got started this week and highlighted the Week 2 slate with five region openers. ACE Charter not only opened its region schedule, but also opened its season with a 38-6 win over Central-Macon.

The Week 3 slate kicks off with one Thursday night matchup and just shy of 50 total games for Class A Division I. Entering this week, there are just 21 undefeated teams left (counting 1-0 Mt. Bethel). Region 1 became the only region with three teams in the Class A Division I top 10 this week and will be worth watching with major matchups across the board. No. 2 Thomasville and No. 9 Jeff Davis are both off to 2-0 starts and No. 6 Fitzgerald will be fresh off a bye after its narrow 19-13 loss to Class A Division II No. 4 ranked Irwin County. This week, Thomasville will take on 0-1 Cairo—which fell 44-14 to Thomas County Central in its opener last week. Jeff Davis will host a 2-0 Charlton County team that is coming off a 61-13 victory over Brantley County and 19-0 win over McIntosh County Academy. Fitzgerald will be taking on 0-2 Crisp County out of Class 2A—which is fresh off tough losses to ranked opponents Sumter County (20-19) and Lovett (30-14). Bacon County bounced back from a 36-21 loss to Clinch County with a 38-21 win over Telfair County last Friday and will visit 1-1 Treutlen this Friday. Worth County defeated Turner County 44-6, but dropped a tough 55-46 shootout to Irwin County last week. Now, Worth County will host Dooly County. Brantley County will take on defending Class 2A state champion Pierce County and Berrien will visit Telfair County, which was defeated by Region 1 rival Bacon County 38-21 last week.

The Week 3 slate kicks off with one Thursday night matchup and just shy of 50 total games for Class A Division I. Entering this week, there are just 21 undefeated teams left (counting 1-0 Mt. Bethel). Region 1 became the only region with three teams in the Class A Division I top 10 this week and will be worth watching with major matchups across the board. No. 2 Thomasville and No. 9 Jeff Davis are both off to 2-0 starts and No. 6 Fitzgerald will be fresh off a bye after its narrow 19-13 loss to Class A Division II No. 4 ranked Irwin County. This week, Thomasville will take on 0-1 Cairo—which fell 44-14 to Thomas County Central in its opener last week. Jeff Davis will host a 2-0 Charlton County team that is coming off a 61-13 victory over Brantley County and 19-0 win over McIntosh County Academy. Fitzgerald will be taking on 0-2 Crisp County out of Class 2A—which is fresh off tough losses to ranked opponents Sumter County (20-19) and Lovett (30-14). Bacon County bounced back from a 36-21 loss to Clinch County with a 38-21 win over Telfair County last Friday and will visit 1-1 Treutlen this Friday. Worth County defeated Turner County 44-6, but dropped a tough 55-46 shootout to Irwin County last week. Now, Worth County will host Dooly County. Brantley County will take on defending Class 2A state champion Pierce County and Berrien will visit Telfair County, which was defeated by Region 1 rival Bacon County 38-21 last week. Region 2 enters its second-straight week of a full slate of region games. As it stands, the Northeast at Washington County game will be the only 1-0 vs. 1-0 matchup out of the five. No. 3 ranked Dublin will visit Southwest, No. 7 Dodge County will host Central-Macon and ACE Charter will travel to Jefferson County. Bleckley County’s loss to Dodge County last week sent the Royals out of the top 10 in place of the Indians and they will be traveling to East Laurens looking to pick up the region victory. In Region 3, No. 1 ranked Toombs County will travel to South Effingham after opening its season last week with an impressive 55-14 win over Dougherty. Savannah Christian dominated Class 4A New Hampstead 35-7 last week to improve to 2-0 and will take on Region 8′s Providence Christian at home with a chance to continue its title bid. Swainsboro dropped a 24-21 loss to ECI last week and will look for its first win of the year at home against Metter. Region 4 saw Lamar County maintain a No. 4 ranking this week and the Trojans are fresh off a bye at 1-0 heading into their matchup with visiting Jackson. Towers is also 1-0 coming off its bye and will take on visiting Landmark Christian out of Region 5 Sub. 5 Thursday night. The other intriguing cross-region matchup will be Region 5 Wesleyan against Region 8′s Elbert County. The Wolves are 2-0 and rising in the Class A-3A poll, while Elbert County is 0-2 and looking to return to the poll after disappointing losses to start the year. In Region 6, Friday night will show just how talented Bremen is as it hosts two-time defending state champion Bowdon. Bremen scored a 57-6 win over Jordan last week to climb to No. 8 in the poll. Like Bremen, Region 7′s Fannin County has also come out strong to start the season and the Rebels are No. 5 in the latest poll after their big win over Rabun County. Now, Fannin County will visit Union County with a chance to improve to 3-0. The hottest team in Region 8 is Athens Academy and the Spartans are as high as No. 7 in several Class A-3A private division polls. This week, Athens Academy will host Shaw. On the Public side, No. 10 ranked Rabun County will be off on a bye this week and the remaining five teams housed in Region 8 will look to win their first games of the season this week.

The regular season is already a quarter of the way done and after this week’s action, we will be one-third of the way done with the 12 weeks. Class A Division I will have its own playoff and also is home to the majority of the schools that will compete in the Class A-3A private division. This week, we will see top 10 matchups, cross-classification action, out-of-state matchups, battles between undefeated teams and more region games.

On Thursday, Class A-3A No. 1 ranked Savannah Christian scored a 44-20 win over Oceanside Collegiate (SC). Zo Smalls had 38 carries for 214 yards and four touchdowns while Kenry Wall added four carries for 31 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Raiders. Wall added two interceptions and Isaiah Redmond had one interception. Kicker Christian Johns was 5-of-6 on PATs and 1-for-1 on field goals.

The Week 5 slate offers a lighter schedule for Region 1 and 2 this week as just 4 of the combined 17 teams in the two regions are playing this week. Region 4 will also have just one of its seven teams in action this week. In Region 1, No. 6 ranked Fitzgerald will be off its bye and travelling to Class A Division I No. 3 ranked Brooks County. Bacon County is also coming off a bye week and will host Lanier County. Next week will kickoff Region 1 play. In Region 2, the 10-team region will have a rare week without region matchups. The only two teams playing will be ACE Charter at Wilkinson County and undefeated Dodge County at home against Region 3′s Vidalia.